Part of the Family
by mccabebabe
Summary: A minor crisis brings the unit together and makes the newest member feel like part of the family... season 12, Emily is now the Chief, Alvez has joined the team and Special Guest Star Roxy is front and center
1. Chapter 1

Part of the Family

(Criminal Minds, K, Roxy, the BAU team)

She kept running, pushing the scrub and brush aside as her long legs carried her through the woods. Agent Luke Alvez ran along behind, following her lead as she took them through the dew slicked forest floor, twigs snapping in her wake, and tiny water droplets flying off tufts of grass as she passed. They were following a rustic path, one overgrown with thistles and developing saplings, and Luke struggled to keep up with her as they ran. She was much better at sudden twists and turns through the underbrush and more than once he was slapped in the face by a low branch, but he never lost sight of her. He pulled up short when he realised she'd come to an abrupt stop just ahead of him and panting, he asked,

"What is it?"

Roxy grunted and huffed a deep breath. Luke's eyes followed her line of sight and he bent to pick up an item lying in the grass, about five feet short of the creek to their left. Sighing, he pulled out his cellphone and made a call.

"I found an iPhone, Garcia," he told her. He pulled a latex glove from his pocket, put it on and picked up the phone. As he'd expected, the battery was dead. Pushing the home button elicited no response from the device. "It's dead. I'll charge it up when I get back to the car, but I'm pretty sure it's his." He dropped the phone into a clear plastic bag and pocketed it, then checked his GPS location against the one Garcia had given him earlier. The two locations matched. Reaching forward, he ran his hand along Roxy's back as he surveyed the area.

"Good girl," he praised the dog. Returning his attention to his own cellphone he addressed Garcia, "Found it right where that last bounce came from. There's no sign of him though. No sign of a struggle here. No brush matted down or anything. We're just gonna do a circle around the site," he spoke in between pants of breath as he and Roxy carefully searched the immediate area. After a few minutes, Luke and Roxy made their way up hill away from the location site. About fifty feet away, at the top of the ravine, they found themselves standing on a set of tire tracks that Luke thought was probably a former service road now being used by runners, bikers and walkers. As he looked around he realised exactly where they were and let out a sigh. Again he punched up a number on his cell phone.

"Garcia? Patch me in through to JJ and Rossi too will you?"

After hearing acknowledgement from the others, he told them, "Yeah, I'm about five hundred feet behind the library, on a path that overlooks the bottom of the park. And Rossi?" he paused for a moment, "I can see his apartment building from here."

"Library's about half a block from his apartment," Rossi told them. "At the edge of the park."

"Would he be walking through that park to get to the metro stop?" Garcia asked, as she checked the map of the area.

"I guess he could be if he was wanting to go to the library on the way," Rossi surmised.

"Or to see the fall colours," JJ realised and voiced her thoughts aloud. She looked around at all the gold and orange foliage. "He was just explaining why the leaves change colour to Henry the other night, and we all know he loves the fall."

"Would he go down to the ravine though?"

Luke looked around and replied, "I don't think so. You can see the colours from up here, I don't think joggers or even walkers would be going through the bush me and Roxy just went through, it's too overgrown.

Garcia's face contorted. What the hell was Alvez thinking? Why did he have his girlfriend at work with him? While they were on a case no less! Anger mounted in her and she looked to Emily Prentiss who stood behind her, deep in thought.

"Emily!" Garcia said loudly. "Emily?"

Prentiss blinked and refocused giving Garcia her attention.

"Why does Alvez have his girlfriend on the case?!"

Prentiss chuckled, bent down and punched a key on Garcia's phone, and then spoke,

"Hey, Alvez. You wanna let Garcia off the hook now please?"

Again the tech analyst's brow furrowed as she looked from Prentiss to the phone to her computer screen.

The sound of Alvez chuckling came over the computer speaker, and a moment later, the screen refreshed and an image of Roxy filled the monitor.

"This," Alvez said, "Is Roxy. She's a trained search and rescue dog, Garcia. Retired now. And while she does live with me, I wouldn't exactly call her _my girlfriend._ "

"Oh," Garcia made a face and thought for a moment, then retorted, "But after you asked about my weekend. In the elevator that day. You said-"

"I said I was kickin' it with Roxy." He deliberately didn't follow through that he had also commented 'she's my girl.'

Rossi broke in, "Can we get back to the search?"

"Hey, Rossi?" Alvez asked, "Are you at his apartment?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can you get a piece of his clothing and meet us at the library?"

Fifteen minutes later, agents David Rossi and Jennifer Jareau met up with Alvez and Roxy on the path behind the library. Roxy was drinking water from a collapsible bowl, which Alvez had filled from the water fountain behind the library building. It was a warm autumn day; the sky was clear. Several people reading books sat on benches beside the path that wound from the library parking lot behind the library itself and along the edge of the park that spanned an entire city block to the northwest. At the end of the block stood the apartment building in which resided Dr. Spencer Reid.

JJ handed Alvez a familiar looking purple scarf. Luke bent down and presented it to Roxy. She sniffed and sniffed and sat down, waiting for her next command. Alvez dug through his pocket and handed Rossi the iPhone he'd found in the woods. JJ noticed Roxy's stance and asked,

"Why's she sitting?"

"I'll take this back to Garcia," Rossi said, indicating the phone, and turned to walk back to his car.

Alvez acknowledged Rossi with a nod and replied to JJ, "She's not picking up his scent here." He turned and gave Roxy's leash a slight tug, and told the dog "Let's go," before turning back to JJ and saying, "We should go back over to the path."

The two agents and the dog made their way back to the crest of the hill Luke and Roxy had originally climbed. Again Roxy sniffed and sniffed then sat down. Luke presented the scarf to the dog again. Roxy sniffed it and looked up to Alvez. Thinking for a moment, he tugged at Roxy's lead and slowly started walking along the path in the direction of Reid's apartment. Every twenty feet or so, he stopped and gave Roxy the scarf again. And every time, Roxy would sniff the scarf and then sit. It wasn't until they reached the apartment building parking lot that Roxy sniffed and found a trail. She stopped at the building's front door then, after getting the go ahead from Alvez, retraced her steps back to the parking lot where she sat down beside the driver's side door of Reid's vehicle.

JJ sighed.

"This is Reid's car, isn't it?" Alvez asked. JJ nodded.

"Dammit," Alvez commented in a disappointed tone. They returned to the building's front door to contemplate their next course of action, and Roxy made the decision for them. Alvez realised she wasn't sitting down at the door. He gave her lead some slack and both Luke and JJ smiled when Roxy started down the sidewalk, pulling at her leash. The dog paced along the sidewalk for the better part of a block and JJ and Alvez both smiled as they passed the library. Roxy negotiated the way through the oncoming mass of human legs, sidestepping a skateboarder and several people whose attention was trained on their smartphones. She trotted along determinedly, Alvez and JJ right behind her.

They were right; Reid _had_ come this way, just not through the park as first thought. A few minutes later, they arrived at the metro station. It was evident from Roxy's tracking, that Reid had entered the concourse and taken the southbound train.

"Now what?" JJ asked, as she transferred Reid's scarf from one hand to the other. Alvez praised the dog for her good work and told JJ,

"Let's go back to my car." As they walked back towards Alvez' vehicle, he continued, "Obviously, Reid came down here and took the subway somewhere."

"Yellow line southbound from here. Probably headed to work then, Luke," JJ surmised and Alvez agreed with her.

Back at the BAU offices in Quantico, Rossi handed Garcia the Ziploc bag with the iPhone inside and pulled up a chair beside her.

"Where's Prentiss?" he asked.

"Her office, she had a call," Garcia informed him.

Garcia pulled on a glove and then removed the iPhone from the bag, plugging it into her own iPhone's charger. While they waited for it to charge enough to turn it on, Rossi called JJ.

After getting JJ's update about the subway, Rossi told her, "Talked to the Super of Reid's building after I left you guys. Said he saw Spencer last night when he dropped off a package he'd signed for from the post office. Mail that didn't fit in the mailbox, apparently. And he hasn't been missing long, guys. I listened to the answering machine while I was there and the only call there was Garcia this morning, looking for him." Rossi paused for a moment then continued, "Of course, that's assuming no one else has called him at home since last night. Garcia?"

"On it," she said, tapping into the DC phone company's system and extracting the necessary information. "Last call to 187's home number was my call at 9 18 this morning. Last one before that was the library calling, that was yesterday morning at 10 12."

"He was here at 10 12 yesterday so he must've heard and deleted any message from them because your call was the only one on the machine."

"Other than that, I have calls f _rom_ his number," she paused to cross reference the numbers that had come up in the first search, "Thai takeout at 6 35 pm last night, and a long distance call to," again she paused to do a secondary search. "Country code 33, our genius is calling Paris, France at midnight. Which is 6 am in Paris. And," her eyebrows rose in surprise, "whoever he called, they talked for an hour."

Both Rossi and Garcia looked up in surprise when Emily Prentiss came into Garcia's office, just in time to hear Garcia's last sentence.

"What's that number?" Prentiss asked.

" 01 11 37 37 91" Garcia told her. "With the 33 in front of it that's necessary to call France. Why?"

Prentiss pursed her lips and shook her head slightly, "It's nothing. It's okay. Garcia, did you check to see if Reid had perhaps taken a cab?"

Immediately, Garcia set about looking into this possibility, using his address as the search parameter and Prentiss made eye contact with Rossi and nodded her head slightly, to indicate she wanted him to go with her.

"Do not let Garcia trace that number," she hissed in a low tone as Rossi joined her outside Garcia's door. She stopped Rossi's question with "I'll explain later!" before stalking off to the elevator and leaving.


	2. Chapter 2

Rossi returned to Garcia's side and asked her to call up the DC subway map. The distraction worked; Garcia was immediately engrossed in trying to determine possible destinations for Reid based on the subway map.

"I'm gonna go get a coffee. Did you want a tea, Garcia?" Rossi offered.

"Thank you," she said, without looking up from her computer.

Rossi left her office and released a sigh of relief. Whatever the reason, he trusted Prentiss and knew she would fill him in later. As her second in command, Rossi was privy to a lot of information and he knew she trusted him too. He fixed his coffee in their break room, and poured boiling water from the kettle over a tea bag for Garcia.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath because he couldn't remember how Garcia liked her tea. He assembled milk, sugar, honey and cream on a small tray and took that, and the tea and coffee, back to Garcia's lair.

She thanked him and added just the honey to the tea. Setting everything aside, away from the computers, she put the glove back on and removed the iPhone from the charger. Clicking it on, she read through the notifications screen and turned to Rossi,

"This definitely is Reid's phone, Rossi. My text ' _where are you'_ is on the notifications screen. And the screen wallpaper photo is him with Henry and Michael and a pumpkin." She looked to Rossi, "Should I hack into it?"

Rossi shook his head. "No, not yet." Inwardly, he was concerned that the mysterious Paris number might show up and trigger Garcia to investigate it further. Rossi wanted to consult with Prentiss before invading Reid's privacy any further. His phone rang and he stepped out into the hallway to answer it.

The elevator door opened, admitting JJ, Alvez and Roxy into the BAU. Immediately, every unoccupied human on the floor descended upon the group, wanting to meet the dog. Fortunately, Roxy was used to being around people, noises and all sorts of distractions and she padded alongside Alvez as he made his way down to his desk. She accepted several pats on the head and sniffed at every human paw offered to her before coming to a stop when her handler paused.

He sat down in a chair and Roxy turned and sat down obediently beside him. Alvez was talking to JJ but he paused midsentence, opened a desk drawer and pulled out a familiar looking box. Roxy's tail started to wave and she pawed at the carpeted floor once, twice and let out a tiny yip. Luke laughed and handed her a dog biscuit, then put the box back into the drawer. After finishing his sentence, he turned back to Roxy and told her,

"Good girl, Rox." Bending down, he tapped the floor with one hand and told her she could lie down and sleep if she wanted. "If I'd known what a chick mag—" he broke off, letting the intended joke die on his lips when he realised his current audience was entirely female. The two female agents from other units laughed and petted Roxy before excusing themselves and returning to their workstations.

JJ slid into the chair at the desk next to that of Alvez. It was Reid's desk and she absently moved a couple of the Dr. Who figures that adorned the desktop. She glanced up at the wall clock. 2 17 pm. Sighing, she turned her head and met the gaze of Alvez.

"It's not like him, is it?"

She shook her head no.

"You know him better than any of us. Is there any reason to think something's wrong, JJ? Is it possible he's just off doing something?"

"Not without calling or texting," she began, then conceded, "which of course, with his cell phone missing he wouldn't be able to do."

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Rossi. He was putting his phone back in a pocket and told them,

"Just talked to Reid's apartment Super. He's sending Garcia the surveillance footage from the cameras around the building. There's one on the entrance, and another on the parking lot. And—"his train of thought was interrupted when he spied Roxy. Immediately, he stooped down to stroke the dog's head and speak to her, "Hey, Roxy, how are you, girl?" Rising, he asked Alvez, "Did she get a tour of the office?" and before Alvez could answer, Rossi continued back on track, "We'll know in a bit about the circumstances around Reid leaving his apartment. And I guess I better go tell Garcia to expect that footage." He strode off towards Garcia's office, pausing briefly when he heard the dinging of the arriving elevator.

The elevator door opened and Emily Prentiss waved at Alvez and JJ as she walked up the stairs, entered her office. Rossi watched as she shut the door behind her.

In Garcia's office, the technical analyst was already perusing the footage provided by the apartment superintendent. She lamented aloud, "This would go a lot faster if Reid was here doing this. Which. Of course. Wouldn't be necessary if Our Genius was here," she paused to call out "Enter if you dare," when she heard the knock on her door. Rossi opened the door, talking rapidly as he entered,

"Garcia, you're about to—" the words died on his lips as he saw she was already engrossed in the tape. "How—"

"Reid's apartment Super is super, just like his title. He's a smart man, Rossi; the subject line of his email to me was Reid Apartment Surveillance. Pretty eye catching, no?"

"I, yeah. Well, I'll leave you to it, Garcia," he told her, exiting and closing the door behind him. Hurriedly, he made his way to Prentiss' office and rapped on her door; entering the room once invited.

"Emily," he began, brow furrowing as he watched her close a file and quickly stick it in the top drawer of her desk.

"Sorry, Rossi. I'm not at liberty to discuss, _that_ " she paused, indicating the file she'd just put in the drawer, "just yet. So, what can I do for you?"

"You don't seem to be concerned about Reid being," he considered what word to use and settled on "missing."

"Rossi. Dave. Do we know he's actually _missing_? I mean, he's obviously late for work today, hasn't called in—"

"The phone Alvez found, Emily. It _is_ his. His apartment's empty. And to be honest, with those escaped killers still on the loose, we're all a little worried."

"Okay, I hear you. You're right, it isn't like him to not call." She rose and walked around her desk to stand beside him. "Call all the hospitals, find out if he's a patient. Have JJ call Will. See if DCPD knows anything. See—"

She was interrupted by the intercom and reached over to reply, "What's up Garcia?"

"You'll wanna see this, Emily."

She exchanged a look with Rossi then told Garcia, "Be right there."

Rossi and Prentiss hurried over to Garcia's office and noticed that Alvez and JJ must have been notified as well. Rossi saw Roxy's tail go into Garcia's office just ahead of them.

"Here," Garcia pointed at the footage from the apartment parking lot.

The footage was time stamped 5 55 pm yesterday and showed Reid getting something from the trunk of his car. As he slammed the trunk shut, he dropped a package. While he was bent over to pick up the package, two kids riding bicycles stopped and waved. He waved back and they spoke to each other. The kids resumed riding and Reid, now carrying several packages was unaware that his cell phone had fallen from his pocket when he straightened up and made his way through the parking lot towards the building.

Garcia clicked a few keys and waited for the images to load and suddenly realised Roxy was standing right next to her.

"Oh! Hello there!" Luke introduced them, "Penelope Garcia, this is Roxy. Retired from active service but still a darn good tracker. And running partner. Roxy, this is Penelope Garcia, the lifeblood of our operation."

Roxy gave a quick yip and tilted her head as Garcia reached out and offered her hand. The dog sniffed at the human paw, puzzled by the amount of superfluous embellishment it bore. She waited patiently as this most recent human acquaintance patted her head and then she flopped down on the floor and waited. Roxy wasn't used to being retired, and hoped that her Luke would soon have another job for her to do. But for now, she was content to be next to him and the others as they observed the lighted box on the table.

"Okay, look, there he is on the front door camera, entering the building at 6 02 pm," Garcia had advanced the footage to the time, and showed this to the assembled team members. She clicked a few keys, then showed them the next series of images, "this is the front of the building at 10 48 pm, look, he's come outside. It's dark, but that's definitely Reid. The hair," she explained unnecessarily. The image sequence showed him returning to his car, entering it and apparently searching through the front seat and around the exterior by the trunk.

"He's looking for his phone," JJ surmised. "I bet he meant to make a call and realised he didn't have it."

"But we saw it on the ground by his car earlier in the footage," Alvez remembered.

"Garcia, advance through the parking lot footage, I bet you'll see someone find his phone," Rossi directed.

"And then go back to the front door footage and see if you can find him from this morning," Emily requested. "I think he's probably retracing his steps looking for his iPhone. JJ, did you call Will to see if Reid was involved in any kind of incident this morning?"

Immediately, JJ clicked her cell phone open to make the call. Garcia paused at the keyboard long enough to tell Prentiss she'd check hospital records after they were done with the apartment surveillance footage.

"I wonder, should I go back to the apartment building and check with the local coffee shop to find out if they've seen him today?" Alvez asked.

Emily nodded at him, "Alvez?" He'd already risen from his seat and was just motioning to Roxy to come and he paused to get further instructions from Prentiss. "Get a K9 vest for her from Supply," Emily indicated the dog, "And find out if anyone actually saw him get on the subway this morning. Ask the staff—"

"Got it," Alvez acknowledged, "Roxy, come!" he directed to the dog and the two of them left. He stopped at his desk to pick up Reid's scarf and disappeared into the elevator with Roxy.

Prentiss called Reid's home number, leaving him a message that his smartphone had been located and was waiting for him at the office.

JJ concluded her call and told the others, "Will's got no incidents yet today where the victims haven't already been identified. No Spence, anyway."

Garcia cleared her throat to get their attention and once again motioned to one of her monitors, "There he is, leaving the apartment building just after 7 a.m. this morning."

Emily quickly texted Alvez to let him know that the footage showed Reid exiting his apartment building and heading south along the sidewalk towards the metro stop, just as Roxy had tracked him this morning.

"And there's no unidentified patients in any DC area hospitals fitting Reid's description," Garcia told her after finishing that search on one of her other computers. "I'm just gonna go through the parking lot footage now."

Prentiss' phone rang and she again excused herself to take the call out of the earshot of the others, earning her another sideward glance from Rossi.


	3. Chapter 3

JJ and Garcia sat side by side, worrying about Reid. Rossi, who had finished his coffee, fancied another one and headed out to the break room to get it, leaving the two women to fret. As he stirred his drink, he took notice of Prentiss, standing by Reid's desk on her cellphone. While he couldn't hear the conversation, her body language and the fact that she stood at his desk raised his suspicions. While she spoke, her free hand played with the Dr. Who figurines on Reid's desk. She fiddled with the one that resembled a phone booth, picking it up absently and nearly dropping it in reaction to something her caller said. She set the figurine back in its spot and dropped down into Reid's chair.

"Absolutely!" she told the caller, in a voice loud enough that Rossi actually heard it. "I will let him know right away." Ending her call, Rossi noted her shoulders slump as she let out a sigh and stuck her phone in her back pocket. An expletive escaped her lips. His eyebrows rose and he contemplated his next move.

It was now after three pm, Prentiss noted, grateful that Cruz was off in a meeting and wouldn't be aware that his premier BAU team had accomplished exactly nothing so far today. She sighed and rose from Reid's chair, turning just in time to catch Rossi eyeing her. Her pocket vibrated and she pulled her cellphone out of it, caught sight of the text message and quickly acknowledged it.

"Rossi! Get the others and come one, I have a lead," she shouted across the bullpen.

"Garcia too. And bring Reid's iPhone!" Prentiss added before heading to the elevator to summon it and hold it for the others. Within seconds JJ, Rossi and Garcia scrambled aboard and they were on their way down.

The group was puzzled momentarily when they reached the ground floor and Prentiss led them to the front entrance of the building rather than to the fleet garage to pick up vehicles.

As JJ opened the immense glass door, her eyes surveyed the landscaped front grounds of the FBI headquarters until they fell upon the familiar sight of Roxy. The dog was happily bounding about the manicured grass with two men about ninety feet away. JJ stole a sidelong glance at Prentiss and saw that she was smiling.

"That's Luke—"A wide smile spread along JJ's face, "And Spence is with them!" She broke into a run easily outdistancing both Rossi and Prentiss and reached Reid first, gathering him up in an enormous hug.

He was a little surprised by the vehemence of her show of affection but returned JJ's hug briefly before releasing her to toss Roxy's _Kong_ toy about thirty feet away for the dog to fetch. Returning his attention to JJ, he touched her arm affectionately and waited as Rossi and Prentiss caught up then began explaining.

"I'm so sorry you guys were worried," he started. "I lost my damn iPhone last night—" he paused as Garcia arrived, holding up the item in question. "Where the—"

"Roxy found it in the woods," Garcia informed him, "We'll discuss that further _later_ ," she said in a dramatic tone, indicating with one hand that he should continue. Her other hand held on tight to the iPhone.

"I was retracing my steps from yesterday, I went back over my entire day. I'm sorry, I lost track of time—" Roxy returned with her _Kong_ and Reid paused to take it from her and toss it again. "The last time I used my iPhone was to check a text message yesterday morning. I went back to the coffee shop because that's where I checked for the text. To top it all off, I missed my train connection. I should've just gone back home after I checked with the Metro people. I could've driven in today and been here a couple of hours ago." He thought for several seconds as JJ and Prentiss both

started whispering assurances. "I should have called, I'm sorry. If I'd gone home first, I would've thought to use the phone at home but that didn't even occur to me until I was already on the train."

Prentiss patted his arm and forgave him, "Pretty sure you gave Rossi and JJ some gray hair though," she teased. Turning to Alvez, she asked, "How did you find him?"

"I didn't!" he exclaimed, "Roxy found him. We left the Supply Department with Roxy's vest," he waved the hand holding it to show them, "and when we came down the hallway to go outside, she started tugging the other way. I was still carrying Reid's scarf," he indicated the purple cloth now draped around Reid's neck, "and Roxy caught his scent and made me go down the hallway to the elevators. Reid was there, waiting for one to arrive. I asked him to come outside with us, and I told him how worried we all were. I texted you," he faced Prentiss as he spoke and she nodded affirmation.

"Again, I'm really sorry if I worried you all. I completely lost track of time," Reid told them in a sincere voice. Rossi and JJ made a show of checking for gray hairs but forgave him. When Roxy once again returned with her _Kong_ , Alvez excused them both, citing the need to take her home. Reid bent down to pat her on the head and thanked her for finding him as rose back to his full height to find Prentiss eyeing him.

"When did you eat last, Reid?"

He thought about that for a moment. "Muffin this morning with my coffee. That was about seven, I guess."

Prentiss looked from JJ to Rossi to Garcia, bit her lip and said, "Well, it's after four. And I haven't had lunch yet. But I'll settle for dinner. Who's with me?"

They decided on a restaurant and planned to meet up there in half an hour. Garcia tugged on Reid's arm, indicating he should ride with her. On the way to her car, she turned on his iPhone and asked him to unlock it. He entered the passcode and she swiped through to the application she wanted.

"Okay, two things, Brainiac. First of all, put your thumb over the home button," she directed. He did so and she asked him to repeat the action.

"Why?"

"Because your phone has fingerprint sensor and you can use that in place of a number code too. Do your other thumb now," she directed, after setting up the application. This was completed just as they arrived at her car. She unlocked the doors and they climbed in, then Garcia told him,

"Your phone also has another great feature, Boy Wonder." She swiped through to the appropriate application and told him, "It's called Find My iPhone. I'll show you now, and we'll set it up on the computer at your desk when we're back at the office. You go to your cloud on your browser, and click on FindMyiPhone. It'll ping the phone and—" she saw the puzzled look on his face and realised he probably didn't quite understand her technobabble. She tried again, "It'll make the phone emit a sound to help you find it if it's in earshot," she explained, "It will show you on the map exactly where the phone is, and if it's in the wrong hands, it can be disabled and its memory wiped remotely. I'll help you set that up when we're back at the office."

"Thanks," he said earnestly. The thought of another day of wild goose chasing after a lost phone did not appeal and he knew Garcia had nothing but the best of intentions. "Garcia? How'd you guys find my phone anyway?"


	4. Chapter 4

"It dropped out of your pocket in the parking lot, while you were talking to those kids on their bicycles. Your building superintendent sent us the surveillance footage," she answered his unasked question when she saw his eyebrows rise in surprise. "Anyway, sometime later that night, an older woman in dark clothing—we figure it was probably a homeless person—found it and walked off into the park along that trail."

Reid nodded.

"Somehow, it ended up down in the ravine. Whoever had it, whether it was that woman or if she'd discarded it or whatever, whoever it was turned it on and it pinged and gave me its location. You know, how I keep tabs on all of you when you're out in the field. Anyway, we figure it ended up getting tossed down the ravine because it was of no use to them being password protected. But I gave Alvez the coordinates, and Roxy found it in the woods by the creek."

He appreciated how much his colleagues cared about him and he felt the same way about them. As they drove to the restaurant, Reid again apologised for the worry he'd inadvertently put them all through.

"Aw, Reid, we—um, you need to know, it's not that we don't think you can take care of yourself cause we know you can. You've shown us you can. It's just extra worrisome right now if _anybody's_ late or a no show because well, those escaped killers, there's still a few out there.

They pulled into the parking lot and Reid was struck with an idea.

"Are the others here yet?"

Garcia surveyed the parking lot, "Rossi, no. Emily is just turning into the lot. I don't see JJ either."

He stepped out of Garcia's car and approached Prentiss with a suggestion.

"That's a great idea, Smart Boy." She called across to Garcia, "Change of plans Penelope! I'm gonna grab takeout for all of us, meet up over at Alvez' place."

Reid returned to Garcia's car and asked her a favour, then told her he was gonna help Prentiss with their takeout order. Garcia nodded and told him she'd meet them at Luke's then headed out to do Reid's favour.

Prentiss finished parking her car, got out and headed into the restaurant, Reid on her heels. As she placed their order, he texted Rossi and JJ and told them to meet at Alvez' place.

While they waited for their food, Prentiss beckoned Reid to sit down next to her. Patting his knee, she said,

"I haven't said anything to the others yet."

His eyes grew wide, "Am I in trouble?"

Her brow furrowed. "Should you be?"

"Well I was late today, I caused such a problem for everyone—"

"Oh hell no, Reid. This isn't about that. I trust you'll do your best to call us in any future similar circumstance. Geez, I sounded like Hotch there, didn't I?" she lamented and then got back to the matter at hand. "No, this is about Paris, Reid."

His eyes widened further. _Oh no, how much did Prentiss know_? He wondered.

"I'm only mentioning it in case Garcia brings it up, Reid. When we were worrying about you, she searched your phone records and found that you'd called Paris and spoken for over an hour last night."

He sighed.

"She seemed to have forgotten about it, I'm just forewarning you."

He heaved a relieved sigh. Prematurely it seemed, as Emily continued, "If you don't wanna tell us about a new girlfriend, we'll just have to wait you out."

They were interrupted by the arrival of their oversize order. After paying for it and carrying it out to the car, Emily secured the food on the back seat then they got in and started to Luke's place.

They rode in silence for the majority of the journey and as Emily pulled into Luke's driveway, Reid spoke in a low voice,

"Emily, please don't say anything to anyone yet." He bit his lip and looked down, "She's not my girlfriend. At least, not yet. Maybe not ever. I really like her, but she's three thousand eight hundred and twenty eight miles away. And, well," he trailed off.

Emily felt a stab of empathy and reached out to touch his shoulder. Her lips pursed and she promised him, "They won't hear it from me until you're ready."

"Thank you," he said in a low voice. They parked and Garcia came out to help them bring in the food. She passed Reid a small bag.

"I hope that's okay?" she asked as he looked into the bag and nodded.

"It's perfect, thanks Garcia."

Luke held open the door as they entered and then followed him into the kitchen to open all the containers. Each of them filled a plate then followed Luke into the living room and sat down to eat. Reid took Luke aside and asked about Roxy.

"She's in her kennel, but I'll go get her if that's what everyone wants."

"Please," Reid asked, as everyone nodded in agreement. Alvez walked down the hallway to the back of the house and returned momentarily with Roxy.

Reid sat in a chair away from the coffee table where the others had placed their plates and Alvez brought Roxy over to him.

"Hey, Roxy, thank you so much for finding my phone," Reid praised her, and petted her head. He handed the small bag over to Alvez and asked, "Is that okay?"

Luke looked inside and smiled, handing it back to Reid and said, "Absolutely. Go ahead, give it to her."

Reid withdrew the dog toy from the bag and offered it to Roxy. She looked up to Luke who nodded then happily took the chew toy from Reid and plopped down on the floor in front of him to work on it.

"Thanks," Luke told him, "for that," he indicated the toy, "and for this," he swept his hand in a motion to indicate the company and the food.

"Thank you, for searching for me."

"I'm starting to see—and to feel like part of—the family this unit is," Luke told him. Roxy yipped and licked at Reid's hand and then returned contentedly to her toy.

fin


End file.
